August 6―Iʼll never forget that horrifying day
Ichiro Osako, 32, staff writer in the Chugoku Shimbunʼs news division

On the evening of August 5, 1945, Chugoku Shimbunʼs headquarters, located in
Kaminagarekawa-cho, Hiroshima (present-day Ebisu-cho, in the cityʼs Naka Ward),
about 900 meters from the hypocenter
Despite the war, people went about living their lives.
“Tomorrow, Iʼm going to work on dismantling buildings to create fire lanes around theprefectural government offices area.”“Itʼll be a tough day.”“Osako, youʼre on night duty for defense purposes.”(Night duty for defense purposes:In preparation for enemy nighttime air raids, theChugoku Shimbun placed 14 employees on standby every night.)“Yeah, thatʼs right.”
August 5, 9:27 p.m.
Air raid alarm sounds(WAAAAH)“Hey, everyone, hurry up and take your positions!”

“Good evening. Letʼs take turns eating at night…”(GLUG, GLUG, GLUG)“Itʼs great to have some of this hard-to-come-by whisky.”
Hiroshima
SaipanTinian(Tinian―The island used to be a colony under Japanʼs rule, but it turned into an
intense battlefield in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was occupied by the U.S.
military in August 1944. The island was then used as the base for B-29 bombers
to attack Japanʼs mainland.)August 5, 11:55 p.m.
Air raid alarm lifted“I canʼt drink, so do you want to trade my whiskey for your boiled rice?”“Itʼs a deal!”
August 6, 0:25 a.m.
Air raid alarm sounds(WAAAH)
Tinian, August 6, 1:45 a.m. (Japan time)
U.S. bomber Enola Gay leaves Tinian carrying the atomic weapon(Enola Gay―B-29 bomber that dropped the uranium atomic bomb “Little Boy” onHiroshima. Taking off afterward were an aircraft for surveilling the destructive forceof the atomic bomb and another plane carrying photographic equipment.)(WHIRRRRR)

August 6, 2:10 a.m.
Air raid alarm lifted“Phew, that was a long alarm.”(SIGH…)“Mr. Osako, youʼll soon start your second tour of duty. Thatʼs tough.”(Responding to draft order―Mr. Osako received a call-up notice on August 2, 1945,
ordering him to join the Chugoku Unit 104th, at which time he started serving in themilitary.)“Iʼm a soldier; Iʼll do what Iʼm told.”
Japan looks likely to lose the war.If possible, Iʼd like to continue working as a staff
writer…
August 6, 7:10 a.m.
Warning alarm sounds
Tension rises

August 6, 7:31 a.m.
“No enemy planes found in the sky above the Chugoku military district.Warning alarm
lifted.”“Thatʼs a relief.”“See you later. Letʼs do the best we can.”Because I had to respond soon to the call-up notice, a colleague offered to handle
the building demolition work in my place.
Perhaps Iʼll go home now.
Iʼm worried about the health of my wife, who has bad morning sickness...
(Building demolition work for the creation of fire lanes―Starting in 1944, theJapanese government forcibly demolished buildings in numerous cities to prevent
fires caused by the U.S. militaryʼs air raids from spreading to crucial facilities and tocreate space for evacuations. In Hiroshima, starting around the end of July 1945,
about 30,000 domestic volunteer corps and 15,000 student volunteers were
mobilized in and around the city to engage in the demolition work, and the atomicbombing took the lives of many of them. A total of 46 members of the Chugoku
regional newspaper companies national volunteer corps, consisting of employees ofnewspaper companies located in Hiroshima and the Domei News AgencyʼsHiroshima bureau, were ordered to work on building demolition in the areas of theformer prefectural government offices and the south side of the present-day
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.)

Mr. Osakoʼs evacuation lodging, located in the area of Fuchu-cho, in the suburbs ofHiroshima“Iʼm home. How are you feeling?”“Oh, hi; youʼre back. Iʼm still not feeling well.”“Itʼs dry and windless again today. It must have been hot during the daytime.”(SQUEAL)(GASP)

8:15 a.m., Aioi Bridge (now part of Hiroshimaʼs Naka Ward)(FLASH）(BOOOM)“A bomb. Go hide under the desk!”(The atomic bomb was dropped using the T-shaped Aioi Bridge as a target andexploded 43 seconds later.)

“Yukie! Are you okay?”“They got us.”
“What happened?”Something terrible must have happened in Hiroshima.
Was a military ammunition depot or gas tank bombed?
“Let me go and check it out.”“Please be safe.”

Riding a bike is sure hard.
Oh myWhat happened here?
Perhaps it was one of the uranium bombs that military higher-ups were talking about.
I donʼt think I can go any farther.

Hours after the bombing, the city center became engulfed in raging flames.
I walked around the ruins and over bridges.
The hellish scenes I witnessed there were so horrifying my mind went numb.
“Mom, mom…”“Hey, is your mother missing? Iʼll take you to a doctor. Hang in there.”“Iʼm so hot.” “Please give me water.”“Help me…”

(Temporary relief stations―Aid stations were set up at locations such as theHiroshima Red Cross Hospital as well as schools and temples that had escaped
incineration and collapse, amounting to more than 240 such sites in and around
Hiroshima City.)“Please do what you can to save him.”“Hang in there until your mother comes to get you.”
He is so young…how cruel.

“Oh…”“The Chugoku Shimbun building is still standing!”“Mr. Osako! Youʼre alive. Everything inside the building is totally incinerated. We canʼtuse the telephones or the two rotary presses for printing the newspaper.”“Unbelievable…Iʼll go take a look.”(Trudging heavily)

I was right here until 30 minutes before the bomb was dropped.
“The rotary printers are also burnt to a crisp.”

Everyone, please be alive!
A little after 8:00 this morning, there was a sudden explosion.
I then witnessed unimaginable cruelties one after the other…
Why did this happen? Iʼve lost all ability to reason so I simply canʼt comprehend.
We can no longer publish the newspaper, so I canʼt write about what I witnessed…
Iʼll first head out to where President Yamamoto has evacuated, in the area ofFuchu-cho.

“Letʼs ask the Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun to print our newspaper for us.”
Chugoku Shimbunʼs President Jitsuichi Yamamoto, 55(Newspaper printing in collaboration with other companies―To prepare for anemergency such as air raids that might prevent a newspaper from being published,newspaper companies entered into what were known as ʻmutual assistanceagreements.ʼ The Chugoku Shimbun had an agreement with other newspapercompanies such as the Asahi Shimbun/Mainichi Shimbunʼs west Japan
headquarters in Fukuoka Prefecture as well as with the Shimane Shimbun(present-day Sanin Chuo Shimpo Newspaper) to create a collaborative system fornewspaper printing using other companiesʼ facilities.)“Ask the military to send a message by telegraph to the other papers, immediately.”“Understood.”“We also have to find out the status of our employees.”“Mr. Osako, would you look into the whereabouts of my son* and our employees?)“Yes, sir.”(*Toru Yamamoto, the oldest son of President Yamamoto who was then 29, hadbeen drafted again and was working in the Imperial Japanese Armyʼs Chugoku
District Military Headquarters news team on the grounds of Hiroshima Castle.)
The next day, I went around to numerous relief stations and took notes about thehorrific situation in Hiroshima.
“Whatʼs going to become of us…”
The newspaper began printing once again on August 9, three days after Hiroshimaʼsdestruction, through the collaborative printing system with other newspapercompanies.